Electronic and structural properties of rare earth pnictides

Abstract

Abstract In the present paper structural and electronic properties of rare earth pnictides have been presented. The present calculation has been performed using self-consistent tight binding linear muffin tin orbital (TB-LMTO) method within the local density approximation (LDA). The studied compounds undergo a structural phase transition from NaCl-type structure to CsCl-type structure. The electronic band structure and density of states of the pnictides have been reported. The equilibrium lattice parameter a (Å), bulk modulus B (GPa), number of f-states at the Fermi level Nf (states/Ry cell) and volume collapse of AmBi and CmBi have also been reported. The calculated equilibrium structural parameters are in good agreement with the available experimental results.